Oil, gas production to remain sluggish

WASHINGTON — Oil and natural gas production in the Gulf Coast area probably will not recover from this year’s hurricanes until next summer, Energy Secretary Sam Bodman said Thursday, urging conservation as the cost of heating homes is expected to soar this winter.

“The infrastructure of our country took a real blow with Hurricanes Rita and Katrina,” Bodman told reporters outside the White House.

Short supplies will contribute to high energy prices this heating season, said Bodman, who urged Americans to step up conservation.

The Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration recently predicted that households heating with natural gas can expect to spend from 50 to 70 percent more this winter, depending on location. The agency this week scaled back its heating costs predictions slightly because of mild weather during November.

But with the recent onslaught of cold, stormy weather in the Midwest and Northeast, natural gas prices surged on Thursday by 9 percent to a new high of nearly $15 per thousand cubic feet for gas to be delivered in January. A year ago the price was $7 per thousand cubic feet.

Advocates for the poor have argued that as much as $5.1 billion in federal energy aid is needed to keep up with the high fuel oil and natural gas prices people will face this winter. Energy legislation enacted this year authorizes that much money, but Congress has refused to appropriate it.